Some things you always remember

There are some world events that will always stick with you.  Whenever they are mentioned, people remember where they were and what they were doing at that moment.  Sometimes even events that do not directly impact you still help define the passage of time.  Today people point to the attacks of September 11 as the beginning of a new era.  For my grandparents’ generation it was Pearl Harbor.  For my parents generation it was the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

For me and many of my classmates the first such event was the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger thirty years ago today.  On January 28, 1986, I was in the fourth grade.  Because Christa McAuliffe was going to be the first teacher in space our class had been following the preparations for the launch for several weeks. We had learned about the crew and the mission.  Our teachers used the event to help stimulate our interest in science and technology.

NASA scheduled the launch so that students around the country could witness the event on television.  The only cable hookup in our building was in the school library.  Because of the small space available the class had to be divided into two groups.  The first group would watch the launch live.  The second group would see it a few minutes later on videotape.

The big day arrived.  My group was going to be second.  While half the class filed out the rest of us spent the time talking about the launch with our homeroom teacher.  We were as excited as she was.  Time could just not move fast enough for our turn to come.  The clock seemed to stand still.  We had no idea what was happening while we waited.

I never saw the explosion.  What I remember more than anything about that day was the look of absolute shock on the face of my teachers and classmates as they returned to the classroom.  They were utterly silent and a couple of the adults were crying.  They struggled to explain to the rest of us what had happened.  A quick decision was made not to let the rest of the students watch the tape.  It was not until I got home that night and watched the news that I had a chance to see the horror that had occurred.

Although I have no recollection of what she specifically said, I do remember our teacher talking to us about death.  She helped us begin to deal with our grief.  Even though none of us had any direct connection, the fact that there was a teacher on board made this somehow personal.  Because we were all so young it was the first time that most of us had witnessed any sort of real tragedy.

More than anything, I will remain forever grateful for the way that our teacher took our feelings seriously.  She taught us that pain was real and that it was okay to cry.  She also taught us that adults hurt too.  These were important lessons to learn.  For me, those were the lessons of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Too many kids never get to learn such things.  I just wish that more adults would take the time to do for kids what she did for us.  I also wish that it did not take the death of seven individuals to teach us that.